No Longer with Us

"I'm not sure when he died. But, his last posting was May 31, 2005, the time of death in the blog world."

This is John Lovas. I never met him, but I know him because he blogs. Over the last eight months or so, I've visited his blog quite regularly, and he remains first on my Education/Educational Technology links as "A Writing Teacher's Blog." A month ago, he stopped posting. Today, at Kairos News, I read that he had been ill, and passed away. His last posting was May 31, 2005, the time of death in the blog world. I am numb, and sad, for an important member of the blogging/writing community is no longer with us.

This whole experience addresses an important question I have been pondering for quite a while: How do readers know if a member of a closely-knit blogging community dies? What happens to their blogs? Many bloggers choose pseudonyms, so the obituaries wouldn't be of help.

[Update: at the De Anza College online faculty directory, a link I found at another blogsite, his obituary includes a link to his blog. Could this be an emmerging social practice? Read the online comments... I am not alone in grieving his passing. It's an online wake, minus the Irish whiskey]

I have made connections with people in the blogging world, and, although I've never met most of them and although I have no idea what they look like, I often sense their care and concern for me more than those of my own family or close friends. There are blogs that I check daily, and when some of these bloggers stop posting, I feel as if a friend has left.

It's strange, this crazy world of blogging. Here I sit at my little gray box, typing away on a Sunday morning, devastated because a man I never met is no longer with us.

I know I'm on a "blogging break" (see previous post). But, in honor of a blogging buddy, I break my silence.

Comments

[Jeff Hess]

Shalom Shamash,

And will anyone pay the bill for when it comes due for hosting his blog? Or will the files be deleted, the data overwritten and the words lost?

Yes, I know that his blog is on the university computers, but has anyone told the sysop that Lovas' files are important?

I found Lovas through your site and I enjoyed his writing. Thank you for making that possible for me.

B'shalom,

Jeff